Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery

There are no road signs that point the way to Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, which is quietly nestled in the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve. There is only a small dirt path that winds its way through the forest, eventually stopping in front of what many believe is one of the nation’s most haunted cemeteries.

The resting place of about 150 people, Bachelor’s Grove cemetery is just one acre in size and is named for the unusually large number of single men buried there. The first burial was in 1844 and the last (an interment of ashes) was in 1989. The last recorded body buried there was in 1965.

Visitors say they feel an overwhelming sense of despair and isolation in the graveyard, and there have been literally hundreds of ghostly experiences reported in Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery.

The cemetery’s isolation may have been the very thing that made it so appealing to local mobsters in the 1920s. It is thought that several mob hits ended up in Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery and the adjacent pond. While almost every area of the cemetery appears to be have paranormal activity, there are an unusual number of incidents reported near the pond. The dancing lights and ghostly forms seen here are most commonly believed to be the victims of these gangsters.

Local legends also tell less violent stories. In the 1870s, a farmer was plowing his nearby field when his horse spooked and ran into the pond. The man, unable to stop the horse, was dragged into the dark water, and under the weight of the plow, both he and the horse drowned. Visitors to the cemetery have caught a glimpse of a pair of shadows, resembling a horse and a man with a plow, thought to be the phantom team continuing their work in the field.

"The White Lady" or "The Madonna” wanders through the cemetery at night, seemingly searching for something. Folklore says that she is looking for her baby, who is thought to be buried next to her, and in some reported sightings, she appears to be holding a small child in her arms. She is also known as "Mrs. Rogers", although her true identity remains a secret.

Within the cemetery itself, there are dozens of reports of bright lights bouncing from tombstone to tombstone. Often, these lights are said to follow behind a two-headed man, one the most curious and unexplained of all of the cemetery’s spirits.

Another strange alleged phenomenon in Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is the appearance of an entire ghost house. A Victorian-style house, surrounded by a white picket fence, emerges from the mist and then slowly fades away. All reported attempts to reach the house before it disappears have been unsuccessful.

Even the roads surrounding Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery seem to be haunted. Motorists have reported being forced to swerve in order to avoid hitting ghostly cars and trucks. Some people have actually been run off the road.

There is a dark overtone to Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery that may help explain the sense of unimaginable sadness often encountered while visiting the area. In addition to the appalling amounts of litter strewn throughout the cemetery, the grounds have been victim to countless acts of vandalism and destruction. Most of the cemetery’s 150 tombstones are missing. Of the 20 or so that remain, the majority have been toppled or broken. It is not uncommon to find graves that appear to have been dug up. Rumors began to spread that Satanists were operating in the area. All of this destruction and darkness may explain why Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery has such a large amount of reported paranormal activity.

For more information on the cemetery and the surrounding area, please visit www.bachelorsgrove.com. Follow the link to the Grove Restoration Project to learn about efforts that are being made to restore Bachelor’s Grove.

Dale Kaczmarek, President of the Ghost Research Society, has created a virtual tour of Bachelor's Grove Cemetery. To take his tour, which is part of the Ghost Reasearch Society's web site, please click here.

Special thanks each of these organizations for allowing the link to their site.